Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Federal Judges Revealed

In a search for useful secondary sources on federal judges, I've turned up Federal Judges Revealed (Oxford, 2008) by

William Domnarski, a practicing lawyer and author of two other books on federal judges. The most recent book, reviewed in Oral History Review (Winter/Spring 2011), the George Washington Law Review, and Federal Lawyer, may be of interest to blog readers. The publisher's description of the book follows.

The power and influence of the federal judiciary has been widely discussed and understood. And while there have been a fair number of institutional studies-studies of individual district courts or courts of appeal--there have been very few studies of the judiciary that emphasize the judges themselves. Federal Judges Revealed considers approximately one hundred oral histories of Article Three judges, extracting the most important information, and organizing it around a series of presented topics such as "How judges write their opinions" and "What judges believe make a good lawyer."

Here are excerpts from two reviews.

"Federal Judges Revealed offers a captivating look inside the personal and professional lives of judges as well as insight into the workings of the federal judicial system as a whole. Domnarski has done the legal community a service by collecting this information and organizing it into a cohesive and readable whole."
--Emily Judge, The Federal Lawyer

"Federal Judges Revealed stands as a valuable addition to the literature on judges and judging. It provides a useful introduction to, and overview of, a previously overlooked resource for studying how a broad range of judges understand their role."
--Chad M. Oldfather, Professor, Marquette University Law School, George Washington University Law Review